61 comments:

Here one will note the earlier photo of Trayvon Martin, looking young, next to a very adult looking Zimmerman. They could instead have displayed contemporary pictures like these the defense found. And they could have used a photo of zimmerman like this one that shows what Zimmerman looked like right after Trayvon beat the crap out of him.

Odd, how I had to go to a conservative web site to find this (though Jon Stewart may have done something or other). NBC didn't have anything real I could find, when selecting for msnbc.com or nbcnews.com.

I posted the following comment in a non-café thread last night, but since there's an official (and fragrant) café now, I'll repost and hopefully not offend the hosts.

As I've mentioned before, I lost my home at the end of February. I had three days to move everything I own, including my studio and perfumery lab, my extensive kitchen, thousands of books, furniture, into a storage unit.

I'm also available to produce commissioned drawings and watercolors, please contact me here (Be sure to take a look at some of my work to make sure that you like what I do before you request anything, but I'm fairly versatile and willing to accept almost any challenge). I can't currently produce prints of my older work as my equipment is in storage, but I can always produce new works.

Apologies for the self-promotion and for my ongoing stories of misery.

It's not about the trial. It's about the race baiting by the media, the race hustlers, and even some so called "intellectuals." It shows the effect of the toxic approach towards race the media evangelizes (my opinion this is a result of it).

We have a new spin on the Zimmerman case courtesy of Jeffrey Toobin on CNN.

According to Jeff, the police are angry that the states attorney decided to prosecute despite the PD recommendation not to. Their favorable testimony today was intentional "payback" for that show of disrespect.

Anderson Cooper did not question Jeff's assertion and the rest of the panel either backed him up or remained silent.

Dangerous words. Icepick might be proved right about the post-trial reaction if this idea spreads.

The thing is, with big ol' aspherical lenses the light drops off at the edges resulting in vignetting, that's where it looks like someone took gray spray paint and very lightly zapped the corners. Some people like that because it produces a vintage effect or focusing attention on the subject. But it is bad.

Most of the lenses we buy for Nikons fit a full sensor camera, one the size of nondigital 35mm, but most of the cameras are nonprofessional 3/4 size sensors, the lenses fit, and they work, but the lens is not used to its full capacity and the result is as if the photo had been cropped compared to the same photo were it taken with the same lens on a camera with a full size sensor. And I always felt a bit cheated by that overkill in glass that is not used.

Because three of my four lenses are for a larger camera but one is not. And that one that is not produces vignetting I just now realized. That is cropped out by the other three lenses automatically, on those lenses the portion where the light drops off is not used.

But yesterday I discovered a feature in Photoshop that corrects that in RAW format, and man, does that make a difference.

When the feature is engaged and toggled back and forth, the picture bounces forward and back and you really do see what that feature does. Hang on, I'm going off to make a GIF to show you.

I cannot go back and fix the vignetting that is disturbing me so greatly in earlier photosets even sets so recent as cream of poblano soup most noticeable in the purple background, now that I know what vignetting is, how it is caused, now that I know my one lens produce it, and now that I can fix it otherwise, for you see, those RAW NEF files are gone, erased 7 times to make sure they're really f'n erased! I don't know why I do that, I just do.

@Dante. Thanks for posting. In a better world some of these correspondents would reflect upon their biases, but fat chance of that. Liberal pieties are the most evolved form of prejudice. They're impervious to logic. They can only be defeated by a sappier piety. Just as feminism refuted Freud, perhaps some day an action movement of overweight Hispanics will prick the conscience of America and make us realize how wrong it is to marginalize such people.

Wasn't the advent of citizen-journalists and then social-mediaists supposed to solve the problems of faulty reportage?

It's an interesting point you are making. There are a lot of ways of looking at it, and it would require exploration to find out why this hasn't worked out so well.

I'm off work for a month, and I had the time to put this compilation of information together, because I'm even more disgusted by the media treatment of this than I was with the Duke Lacrosse player fiasco.

But who is listening? Inga's reaction is to "pooh pooh" the information on procedural grounds (wrong forum, Dante), etc.

Anyway, I did my bit. The other bit I intend to write about at some point is this idea that somehow this is good for Zimmerman, or understandable to try a guy who is clearly innocent of the crime for which he is being charged, because it is somehow Cathartic for the society of people that condone the behavior of Trayvon Martin.

Perhaps I used a wrong term, when I said "Social Media." I have a problem with commonly accepted terms. I referred to the MSM as I see it acting. As a force to shape society. Not to report the facts, not to fight for justice, not to be unbiased, but only to force a social outcome.

I was driving the other day and saw a pickup truck by the side of the road. On the back window of the cab, there was a decal that said "COUNTRY GIRL" in pink, curly letters. Right next to that was a New York Yankees logo, which pretty much blew her country girl cred to smithereens. Nothing says "big city" like a New York Yankees logo.

The same people who defend government snooping into its private citizens, on the grounds that the government can be trusted with such delicate information and really is only doing it to protect you, are the same people who decry the death penalty because they don't trust that this same government may execute even one single innocent person.

One reason for being against "the gang of eight bill" is seeing Schumer on Fox News Sunday lickung the cream off his whiskers.This can't be good.

Any bill they come up with will have features dependent on enforcement of law, and we have a President and Attorney General who say they do not greatly care what the laws are; they will decide which, if any, to enforce.

So, I really think we must wait until that situation to change before we can "solve the illegal immigration problem."

That said, Congress could revise the statutory immigration rules to something more realistic, which could help for the future. The present rules are summarized on about 15-16 pages, so a 20 page bill had ought to do it.

lt is certainly eye opening to watch any lawyer dominated show on cable news including Fox .All miss the points and all get the law wrong in FL.Race baiting is rampant.Why do the MSM want to make the world safe for thugs? Garlic roasted with butter on the grill smeared over lightly toasted bias sliced bagguetes.Yummmm.

Any bill they come up with will have features dependent on enforcement of law, and we have a President and Attorney General who say they do not greatly care what the laws are; they will decide which, if any, to enforce.

Made me think of the $300K fine paid by Gibson Guitars for using "endangered" wood! Gibson guy is a Republican. Martin (Democrat guy) uses the same wood, no prosecution! Hmmmmmmmmmm!

The "snooping" question does indeed go to Gibson Guitar and other donors to the Republican party who have been "targeted" by various Federal agencies.

So far, probably not us small fry, but can it? You bet.Yesterday, my neighbor wondered about replacing her swamp cooler, so I looked up swamp coolers at Home Depot, etc.This morning my sidebar advertising is full of dancing swamp coolers from various vendors. The technology exists, and while commercial ads might just be annoying, think of the possibilities for political manipulation, both carrots to "get out the vote" and boogaboos to scare off those who might be thinking of active opposition!

Democrats are scared that ObamaCare might hurt them. You know, because it's a Ponzi scheme where the government forces insurance companies to rob Peter to pay Paul. They made a deal with the devil. The AARP - I'm looking at you.

Employers are also deciding whether it makes more economic sense to pay a fine to the government or pay for healthcare benefits for their employees. What this means is that hundreds of thousands – and perhaps even millions – of Americans will learn that they are being dismissed from their employer’s healthcare coverage.

The healthcare pink slips will start raining down in late summer and early fall. This will push people into the healthcare exchanges, where, in some cases, people will be writing health insurance checks for the first time. And in many cases, people will be facing increased health insurance costs, particularly if they are young and healthy. The negative effects on personal income and the overall economy will be undeniable. Sometime next year, before the elections, the penalties associated with not having or providing health insurance will begin to pour in. Will the fines come in the mail? Will you be able to appeal? What happens if someone doesn’t pay? No one knows. Or, no one who knows is talking. The consequences of ObamaCare are being hidden.

I was driving the other day and saw a pickup truck by the side of the road. On the back window of the cab, there was a decal that said "COUNTRY GIRL" in pink, curly letters. Right next to that was a New York Yankees logo, which pretty much blew her country girl cred to smithereens. Nothing says "big city" like a New York Yankees logo.

You'd be surprised how many "country girls" there are in the NY area (like Mrs. Tank). If you come to the Kenny Chesney concert at Met Life (ie. Giants) Stadium in August, you'll see about 40,000 NY country girls, many of whom are also Yankee fans.

Tank, it should be noted that the aforementioned pickup truck was in Southwest Florida. A Rays or Marlins logo, or even Atlanta Braves, wouldn't have been out of character. But a Yankees logo? Those generally belong to transplanted Northerners. As you noted, not all Yankee fans live in the Big Apple, but...